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Westpac trials Google Glass app and Apple iBeacon

Westpac has begun trialling a Google Glass app which lets users keep an eye on their balance and outlined plans to install Apple's iBeacon technology in branches.

Westpac's New Zealand's arm is testing the Google Glass version of its Cash Tank mobile app, which lets customers check their balances without having to log in to their accounts.

Having already built a Cash Tank app for the Sony SmartWatch, Simon Pomeroy, the bank's chief digital officer in New Zealand is predicting that 2014 will the year of wearable technology.

"By the end of this year our customers will be able to walk into a shop wearing their Google Glasses, see something they like and instantly check their bank balance which will be displayed in their peripheral vision - that's pretty cool," Pomeroy says in a statement.

Westpac's Australian arm confirmed to local media that it is also testing smartwatch and Google Glass apps at its St George unit.

Meanwhile, plans are afoot in both countries to deploy Apple's iBeacon Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology in some branches by the end of the month. The technology will be used to transmit special offers to customers' phones as they pass branches.

Says Pomeroy: "Digital innovation is unfolding around the world at an incredible pace and we're focused on making it available to our customers to make things easier and faster for them. These are exciting times."